Hamaguchi Osachi
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| Hamaguchi Osachi | |
 Prime Minister of Japan |
|
| 20th Prime Minister of Japan | |
|---|---|
| In office | |
| 2 July 1929 – 14 April 1931 | |
| Preceded by | Tanaka Giichi |
| Succeeded by | Wakatsuki Reijiro |
| Born | 1 April 1870– Kochi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | 26 August 1931 Tokyo, Japan |
| Political party | Rikken Seiyukai |
| Occupation | Cabinet Minister |
Hamaguchi Osachi (濱口 雄幸 Hamaguchi Osachi ?), (1 April 1870–26 August 1931) was a Japanese politician and the 27th Prime Minister of Japan from 2 July 1929 to 14 April 1931. He was called the "Lion prime minister"(ライオン宰相) due to his physical features.
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[edit] Early Life
Hamaguchi was born in what is now Kochi city, Kochi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku; his father was an official in the forestry department. He graduated from the Law College of Tokyo Imperial University and began his career as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance. In 1907, he became director of the Monopoly Bureau. He became Vice Communications Minister in 1912 and Vice Finance Minister in 1914.
[edit] Political Career
Hamaguchi was elected to the lower house in the Japanese Diet in 1915, as a member of the Kenseikai political party. He later served as Finance Minister under the 1st and 2nd administrations of Kato Takaaki (1924, 1925) and as Home Minister under the cabinet of Wakatsuki Reijiro (1926).
In 1927, Hamaguchi became the chairman of the new Rikken Minseito political party formed by the merger of the Kenseikai and the Seiyu Honto.
[edit] Prime Minister
After the collapse of the administration of Tanaka Giichi in 1929, Hamaguchi became Prime Minister of Japan and formed a cabinet based largely on Minseito party members.
With a strong sense of his own rectitude and a tough, stubborn temperament, Hamaguchi inspired trust. Initial public confidence bolstered Hamaguchi's government and allowed him to successfully challenge the ascendant military radicals within Japan. His successful ratification of the London Naval Conference treaty of 1930, accomplished by very forceful tactics, marked both the high point of his administration and the last pre-war instance of a truly civilian government overcoming the opposition of the military.
In his term of office, Hamaguchi attempted to strengthen the Japanese economy through fiscal austerity measures. Hamaguchi's fiscal policy, however, proved disastrous. The Hamaguchi government put Japanese Yen on the gold standard to help stimulate exports, a measure that greatly worsened the impact of the worldwide Great Depression of 1929 on the already feeble economy. This failure of Hamaguchi’s economic played into the hands of right-wing elements, already enraged by the government's conciliatory foreign policies and efforts to reduce military spending.
Hamaguchi fell victim to an assassination attempt on 14 November 1930 when he was shot in Tokyo Station by Tomeo Sagoya, a member of the Aikoku-sha ultranationalist secret society. (Nine years earlier another Prime Minister, Hara Takashi, had been assassinated near the same place.) The wounds kept Hamaguchi hospitalized for several months, but he struggled through physical weakness to win the February 1931 election. He returned to his post in March of 1931 but resigned a month later to be replaced by Reijiro Wakatsuki.
[edit] References & External links
- Bix, Herbert B. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Harper Perennial (2001). ISBN: 0060931302
- Buruma, Ian. Inventing Japan: 1853-1964. Modern Library; Reprint edition (2004) ISBN: 0812972864
- Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Belknap Press; New Ed edition (October 15, 2002). ISBN: 067400991
| Prime Ministers of Japan |  |
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|---|---|---|
| Itō · Kuroda · Yamagata · Matsukata · Itō (2nd) · Matsukata (2nd) · Itō (3rd) · Okuma · Yamagata (2nd) · Itō (4th) · Katsura · Saionji · Katsura (2nd) · Saionji (2nd) · Katsura (3rd) · Yamamoto · Okuma (2nd) · Terauchi · Hara · Takahashi · To. Kato · Yamamoto (2nd) · Kiyoura · Ta. Kato · Wakatsuki · G. Tanaka · Hamaguchi · Wakatsuki (2nd) · Inukai · Saito · Okada · Hirota · Hayashi · Konoe · Hiranuma · N. Abe · Yonai · Konoe (2nd) · Tojo · Koiso · K. Suzuki · Prince Higashikuni · Shidehara · Yoshida · Katayama · Ashida · Yoshida (2nd) · Hatoyama · Ishibashi · Kishi · Ikeda · Sato · K. Tanaka · Miki · Fukuda · Ohira · Z. Suzuki · Nakasone · Takeshita · Uno · Kaifu · Miyazawa · Hosokawa · Hata · Murayama · Hashimoto · Obuchi · Mori · Koizumi · S. Abe | ||
